Ciao regazzi! Long time no talk....once again have a monumental amount to cover so God help me (should be studying right now but instead I'm blogging and illegally downloading mashups...cool Jenna!)
Post Paree I visited the lovely town of Garda on Lake Garda (clever name!) Beautiful and quaint little get away. Were only there for a night but had a great time walking around some Roman ruins and snapping pics by the water. Our short stay provided little blog-worthy material but still loved it!
Roma, however, left us with a PLETHORA of stories.
Our first day (Good Friday) was rather stressful...Sam and I made the fateful trip at DAWN to Malpensa. Making it to Rome for sunrise, we then waited in the airport for 3 hours till Blodgett and her clan arrived. Little did we know that they were coming into a DIFFERENT airport. Alas, we found them at the hotel by noon, and by the time everyone napped, showered, and reenrgized it was 430 p.m. Day 1=near fail.
BUT...it got better. Upon arriving in the city we hopped on a tour bus, thinking it would be the best way to see a lot in a short time period. GREAT choice...the lovely English man in the head phones never failed to eloquently describe each detail we passed by.
Upon exiting, we head for the Coliseum, where the Pope was supposedly reading the Stations of the Cross. We were a solid three hours early so we thought we'd scope out the scene and then grab some dinner. Considering at least a THOUSAND people were ALREADY there, we thought it best to stay put. After snatching a couple pizzas, we waited, and upon noticing that we were thirty yards from what looked like an emperor's throne, we new we were in for a treat! Big Papi arrived moments later, greeting the anxious crowd but demanding silence instantly (I wish I had the power to raise my arms and quiet 20,000 people!) Surrounded by nuns, from nearly every nation on earth, we watched as the pope stood, for TWO hours, motionless. Literally, as they read the 14 stations, he remained in the same standing position, and DID..NOT..MOVE! It was incredible. After the stations was when things truly go interesting, however. We went to the Ice Bar immediately following, and after freezing are you-know-whats off for 8 minutes MAX and grabbing some sweet pictures we were outta there. The lovely front desk man offered us what we THOUGHT were wise words and legit directions home, but OH WAS HE WRONG. Upon entering the graffiti laden subway we should have known to turn back. Instead, after nearly getting decapitated by the train doors, we were on our way to hell. Exiting the train was difficult, and once we found our way to the street we wish we would have never gotten off. Men and women canoodling in the street, drunken bums stumbling around, people sleeping on park benches....we were in trouble. Once we realized that the YOU ARE HERE sticker on the map was actually not where we were, we found our bus stop. But, alas, the buses stopped an hour ago! Woops! Back to crackhead land we traveled. I, thinking the best in humanity, went up to a man at the busstop. "Scuzi sir...dove il autobus?" As he swung around to look at me I realized that what I thought was a lonely stranger trying to get home was really a potential meth addict with Parkinson's trying to do the Macarena. After spitting some serious Italian, I had 2 cabs on the way. But we couldn't leave until we witnessed a potential homicide! A man got chased out of a bar, tackled, and shoved into a moving vehicle..Lord knows where he ended up that night..hopefully back at grandma's! Quite the ordeal...
The next day we met up with Brothers Christopher and Thomas. Both of them, upon hearing our location the night before, exclaimed "You were WHERE!?!??!!" Ya...it was that bad. Anywho..moving on..
Considering that the line to get into the Vatican Museum was longer than the line to get into a Sox vs. Yankees World Series Game 7, we unfortunately could not enter. Luckily, however, we were with two Rome experts! We went to St. John Lateran, the actual Roman Cathedral and true home church of the Pope. The Brothers pointed out that when each of the 12 disciples is sculpted, they are always portrayed with the instrument they were martyred with. For example, St. Simon is always seen with a saw since he was sawn in half. St. Bartholomew carries his skin and a knife because he was skinned alive. SO COOL! Mary Majors was also incredible, and the brothers continued to wow us. St.s Peter and Paul's heads (ACTUAL heads...) in the altar?! A piece of the Last Supper table? Unreal...
Went for a true Italian lunch. 1st course=heavy pasta, followed by salad, THEN chicken/beef, then fruit salad, and THEN dessert...YESSS....but after walking for a solid ten minutes we were up for gelato. Went to the famous gelateria that serves 140 flavors...1...4...0...Needless to say we were in there for nearly an hour but once our flavors were selected we devoured the heavenly substance.
Headed back early that night because tomorrow was the big day! Unfortunately, after 3 days of 70 degree weather, Easter Sunday brought pouring rain. However, sitting front row, the Swiss guard passing right in front of us, the Pope and all the cardinals on the altar and 130,000 of our closest Catholic buddies behind us made the experience one for the record books. The fact that so many people stood in the rain, for the ENTIRETY of the mass was so neat, and sharing it with my closest Arco buddies was great as well!
Sunday night we had a great little dinner with the "fam", and very early Monday morning we were back in Milano. Some much needed sun and rest in the park brought relaxation and less pale bodies.
Overall been a great couple of weeks! Looking forward too some travel coming up, though, and family visitors!
Test this week....work has really become an insurmountable task! :-) But I think we're headed to Lakes Como and Maggiore after, which will be a precious reward!
Talk soon...much love,
Jerds
P.S. I Love You All like a fat kid loves cake!
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